Wood-wind instrument



Oct. 18, 1938 A. LOOMIS I 2,133,625

WOOD-WIND INSTRUMENT Original Filed Dec. 2 1, 1956 3 Sheets-Sheet l U 28 3056fi550 78 J2 32 26 L F 40 34 36 C Fig. 38 FLT C B 92 94 HLT H if FILT F F FILT. D#

' INVENTOR.

D 24 HLLEN LOOM/S A TTORNEYS.

Oct. 18, 1938. A. LOOMIS WOOD-WIND INSTRUMENT Original Filed Dec. 21, 1936 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR. HALE/V ZOOM/s 77Za-w%&vm

A ORNEYS.

A. LOOMIS Oct. 18, 1938.

WOOD-WIND INSTRUMENT Original Filed Dec. 21, 1956 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 mm m ww+m L WA 5 N E L A Patented Oct. 18, 1938 WOOD-WIND Allen Loomis, Elkhart, Conn, Ltd., Elkhart, Indiana PATENT OFFICE INSTRUMENT Ind., assignor to C. G. Ind., a corporation of Original application December 21, 1936, Serial No. 116,948. Divided tember 17, 1937, Seri 7 Claims.

This invention relates to Woodwind instruments and more particularly to automatic operating means for a series of octave holes on a woodwind instrument.

In woodwind instruments it is necessary that a small hole known as an octave hole be provided approximately midway of the vibrating column of air for proper playing in the upper register. For theoretically perfect operation it would be necessary to provide a separate octave hole for each note in the upper register but this would unduly complicate the instrument from both the playing and manufacturing standpoints. Manufacturers have, therefore, compromised for many years by providing only two octave holes. With this arrangement it was diflicult to sound all of the notes in the upper register and tone clarity in all of these notes was practically impossible to attain.

It is accordingly one of the objects of the invention to provide a woodwind instrument having a plurality of octave holes so arranged as to produce true tones throughout the upper register.

Another object of the invention is to provide a woodwind instrument having a plurality of cotave holes which are controlled automatically by normal playing of the instrument.

In one very desirable arrangement I provide, in addition to the pair of spaced octave holes usually provided in a woodwind instrument, an added pair of octave holes, the four holes being selectively automatically opened when particular notes or groups of notes are played, thus improving the ease of sounding the notes in the upper register and the tone of the instrument without complicating the playing of the instrument. It is'very important that the three holes not in use should automatically be closed, and

an important feature of my invention relates to 41) the provision of means for insuring this.

I prefer to accomplish the above objects by providing four octave holes, normally closed by pads; and by providing a single octave key adjacent the left hand thumb rest which, whenever it is depressed, results in opening one or the other of these octave holes and closing the others and by providing means interconnecting the various octave hole pads and the keys of the instrument whereby with the octave key depressed the appropriate octave hole is opened by the operation of the keys required to play a particular note.

Other objects, advantages and desirable constructions according to the invention will be apparent from the following description of the and this application Sepal No. 164,341

embodiment shown on the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is an elevational view of the right side of an alto saxophone employing an octave mechanism having four octave holes;

Figure 2 is a developed view of the key mechanism on the branch or body of the instrument of Figure 1, the parts relating to the invention being shown in full lines and the remaining associated parts in dotted lines;

Figures 3, 4, 5, and 6 are transverse sections on an enlarged scale through the branch of the instrument of Figure 1 taken respectively on the lines 33, 4-4, 5--5, and 66 of Figure 2, the lines of the sections being shown on Figure 2 to facilitate correlating the views;

Figure 7 is an elevation on an enlarged scale of the mouthpipe of the instrument of Figure 1; and

Figure 8 is a section on the line 8-8 of Figure 7.

The drawings illustrate the invention embodied in a saxophone but it is to be understood'that this is for purposes of illustration only and that the invention is applicable to woodwind instruments of any type, whether made of wood or metal, such as clarinets, oboes, bassoons and the like.

Referring to the drawings, all of the instruments shown are of the type known as alto saxophones comprising a bell ill, a U-shaped tubular member I 2'known as the bow, and a tapered tube or main body l4 called the branch, together with a curved mouthpipe I6 detachably connected to the branch and detachably carrying a mouthpiece |8 provided with a reed 20; all of these members being connected in the order named to form the body of the instrument.

Tone holes are provided at spaced intervals along the body of the instrument, each having the usual key-operated pad whereby it may be closed or opened at the will of the player. Each of the tone holes is designated by a note of the musical scale which is the note sounded by the instrument when that hole is open and the holes above it (i. e. toward the mouthpiece) are closed. The arrangement of the tone holes illustrated is identical with standard instruments, as are also the mechanisms for opening and closing the holes, and therefore, will not be set forth in detail as they are well known to those skilled in the art.

The range of the instrument is from At on the second line below the staff (B fiat in the second space) to F in the fourth space above the staff and comprises 32 notes in all or approximately three octaves. As every note except A, GII, G and Ft occurs three times, they will be designated lower, middle, or upper according to their positions in the scale of the instrument.

The first sixteen notes from lower AII to middle CII, generally called the lower register, are played in ascending scale by first closing all the tone holes to sound lower At and then successively opening the tone holes, beginning at the bell, until that numbered 22 is opened (disregarding those marked Alt., to indicate alternates), and in playing all of these notes the air column in the body of the instrument vibrates in its fundamental frequency.

The remaining 16 notes, generally called the upper register, beginning at middle D, are played by closing all the tone holes down to 24 and successively opening the tone holes until that desig nated by the numeral 26 is opened, at the .same time increasing the blowing pressure to cause the air column to vibrate in its first harmonic.

In order to produce these first harmonic tones easily and to prevent them from being toneless and unstable, it is necessary to create a leak somewhere near the center of the vibrating column of air. This is done by providing small holes called octave holes which are opened when these notes are played. At present, standard instruments are provided with two octave holes, one of which is opened while approximately half of the upper register notes are being played and the other of which is open while the remaining upper register notes are played.

In the illustrated instrument four octave holes 28, 36, 32 and 34 are provided. The holes 26 and 36 are in the mouthpipe I6, one being open when the group of notes comprising upper F, E, Di? and D is played, and the other being open when the group comprising upper CII, C, B, AII and A is played and being closed at all other times. Holes 32 and 34 are in the branch I4 and are respectively open when the group of notes middle Gt, G, Ft, F and E and the group DII and'D, are played and closed at all other times. All four of the octave holes are brought into play by depressing the usual octave key or spatula 36 located adjacent the left hand thumb rest 38 and employing the usual fingering required to play the respective notes.

An important minor feature of the invention relates to an additional fingering permitted by the location of the octave hole 34 whereby middle CII may be played in the same manner as lower CII but with the spatula 36 depressed.

The spatula 36 is mounted on a hinge 46 urged by a spring 42 in the direction of the arrow. An arm 44 on the hinge 46 engages a wiper 46 on a hinge 48 urged in the direction of the arrow by a spring 56, weaker than spring 42. A crank arm 52, mounted on the hinge 48 engages a ring 64 surrounding the mouthpipe I6 and secured to a lever 56 hinged at 58. The lever 56 carries the pad for octave hole 36 and is urged by a leaf spring 66 in the direction to close the octave hole. Spring 66 is weaker than spring 56.

A tone hole pad 62, adapted to be lifted by spatula 64 to play high D, is engaged by an arm 66 on a hinge 66 having a second arm I6 engaging a wiper 12 on a hinge 14. The hinge I4 is urged in the direction of the arrow by a spring I6 and carries a crank arm I8 which engages a lever 86 pivoted on the mouthpipe at 82. The lever 86 carries the pad which closes the octave hole 28 and is urged by a spring 84 in a direction to close the octave hole.

A wiper B integral with the arm 86 between the respective hinges 58 and 82 of the arms 56 and 86 engages the arm 56, when it is in the position it occupies when octave hole 36 is open, in such a manner that if arm 86 is moved in the direction to open the octave hole 28, the octave hole 36 will be positively closed.

Octave hole pads 32 and 34 are each hinged on an axle 86 and are interconnected by a float ing lever 88 pivoted at its center on an arm 96 hinged on the axle 86 and one end of which is engaged by the arm 44. The other end of the arm 96 is engaged by a bridge rod 92 hinged on the axle 86 and carrying a fingertip 94 which is depressed whenever middle or high G, is played.' The bridge rod 92 is urged by a spring 96 in a direction to depress the floating lever 82 and hold both octave holes 32 and 34 closed.

A wiper'arm 66 mounted on a hinge I66 and urged in the direction of the arrow by a spring I62 engages the floating lever 88 below its pivot. The spring I62 is insuflicient in strength to overcome the spring 96 and lift the octave hole pads.

The lower and middle E tone hole pad I64 is mounted on ahinge I66 having a wiper arm I68 engaging another wiper arm III) on a long axle I I2 which is urged by a spring H4 in the direction of the arrow. On the long axle H2 is an arm H6 engaging an arm H6 secured to a bridge rod I26 hinged on the axle 86. An arm I22 secured to the upper end of the bridge rod I26 engages a projection I24 on the arm of the octave hole pad 34. Through these interconnections, it will be noted that the spring II4 serves to hold the octave hole 34 closed;

The tone hole pad I64 is provided with a finger tip I25 which is always depressed to sound either lower or middle BIZ and all notes below.

A crank arm I26, connected to the bridge rod 92, passes underneath the arm 96 and under an arm I28 on the hinge 48 at a distance therefrom (see Figure 6) which permits the hinge 48 to rotate in the direction of the arrow suificiently to open the octave hole 36 before engaging it.

When the instrument is played in the lower register, the thumb of the players left hand rests on the thumb rest 38 and spring 42 acting through arm 44 overcomes the tendency of spring 56 to open the octave hole 36, and the engagement of arm 44 with arm 96 prevents spring I62 from lifting the floating lever 68 and thereby opening either of the octave holes 32 or 34. Therefore, the depression of either of the fingertips 94 or I25 in playing any of the lower register notes, although the pressure of springs 96 and H4 is thereby relieved, has no effect on the octave holes.

When playing in the upper register, spatula 36 is depressed as in the standard instrument. This raises the arm 44 from the wiper 46 permitting the spring 56 to rotate the crank arm 52 and open the'octave hole 36. It will be noted that when this occurs, arm I28 moves into engagement with crank I26. Depression of spatula 36 also raises arm 44 from arm 96. In this con dition the notes upper Ct, C, B and At may be played, but if any note below At is played, fingertip 94 must be depressed and, when this occurs, the force of the spring 96 is relieved from the arm 96 permitting the spring I62, through lever 96, to raise the floating lever 88. Since spring H4 is still acting on the octave hole pad 34 through the lever I22 and the projection I24 the floating lever 88 will pivot about the pad 34 and raise the octave hole pad 32. At the same time the crank I26 is raised bringing the arm I28 back to its original position and permitting the octave hole 30 to close. In this position the notes middle Gt, G, Ft, F and E may be played.

In order to go below these notes pad I84 must be depressed by fingertip I25. This relieves the force of spring H4 on the octave hole pad 34, and since arm 98 acts below the pivot of the floating lever 88, the floating lever will be swung about its pivot closing the octave hole 32 and opening the octave hole 34. In this position middle Di and D may be played. As previously stated middle Ct may also be played by closing the D tone hole instead of by releasing spatula 36 and opening all of the tone holes as described above, and as is now the usual fingering.

For playing upper F, E, Di! and D while spatula 36 is depressed, it is only necessary to raise the D tone hole pad 62 by depressing spatula 64. This swings the arm 18 against the force of the spring 16, rotating the lever in a counterclockwise direction (see Figure 7), opening the octave hole 28, and closing octave hole 38 by means of the wiper previously described.

It is theoretically possible that, if fingertip 94 or I25 were depressed while spatula 64 is depressed, octave hole 32 or 34 would open, but this could only happen by accident and would never occur if the instrument is played in the usual manner with the standard fingering.

While only one illustrative embodiment of the invention has been shown and described in detail, it is not my intention to limit the scope of the invention thereto or otherwise than by the terms of the appended claims. This application is a. division of my copending application Serial No. 116,948 filed December 21, 1936.

I claim:

1. A wood-wind instrument having tone holes provided with pads having operating keys and having four normally-closed octave holes provided with pads, and having an operating key associated with the octave holes, and connecting mechanism rendered operative by the octave-hole key and including separately-operable parts actuated by certain of the operating keys for the tone holes to selectively singly open the octave holes independently of each other and at the same time to close the three octave holes not so opened.

2. A wood-wind instrument comprising detachably-connected mouthpipe and branch portions having tone holes provided with pads, having operating keys and having four normally-closed octave holes provided with pads two of the octave holes being in the mouthpipe and two in the branch, and having an operating key associated with the octave holes and mounted on the branch, and connecting mechanism rendered operative by the octave-hole key and including separatelyoperable parts actuated by certain of the operating keys for the tone holes to selectively singly open the octave holes independently of each other and at the same time to close the three octave holes not so opened, the connecting mechanism being mounted partly on the branch and partly on the mouthpipe.

3. A wood-Wind instrument comprising a generally tubular body formed with tone holes provided with pads having operating keys, two octave holes having pads connected with a floating lever, an octave-hole key to lift said lever about one end or the other of said lever, connections from certain of the keys associated with the tone holes to determine which end of the floating lever is lifted by the octave hole key, two other octave holes having pads, means actuated by certain others of the keys associated with the tone holes for closing both of the first two octave holes and yieldingly opening one of said two other octave holes and means actuated by another of the keys associated with the tone holes for forcibly closing the yieldingly-opened octave hole and at the same time opening the other of said two other octave holes.

4. A wood-wind instrument comprising a generally tubular body comprising branch and mouthpipe sections which are detachably connected, and formed with tone holes provided with pads having operating keys, a first pair of octave holes formed in said branch section and having pads connected with a floating lever, an octavehole key to lift said lever about one end or the other of said lever, connections from certain of the keys associated with the tone holes to determine which end of the floating lever is lifted by the octave hole key, a second pair of other octave holes formed in the mouthpipe section and having pads, means actuated by certain others of the keys associated with the tone holes for closing both of the first two octave holes and opening one of said second pair of octave holes and means actuated by another of the keys associated with the tone holes for closing the octave hole so opened and at the same time opening the other of said second pair of octave holes.

5. A wood-wind instrument comprising a generally-tubular body including detachably connected mouthpipe and branch sections, said branch section having tone holes provided with pads and having two octave holes provided with selectively operable pads and with key-actuated mechanism for operating said pads, and said mouthpipe section having two octave holes provided with pads, in combination with levers carrying said pads for the octave holes on the mouthpipe section and which are arranged on opposite sides of the mouthpipe section and which interengage with the key-actuated mechanism substantially at the joint between the two sections.

6. A wood-Wind instrument having tone holes provided with pads having operating keys and having four octave holes, said instrument adapted to play throughout a range of at least three octaves, pads for normally closing said octave holes for playing in the lower register, an octave key, and mechanism controlled jointly by said octave key and by preselected groups of the operating keys for singly selectively opening said octave holes.

7. A wood-wind instrument having tone holes provided with pads having operating keys and having four octave holes, said instrument adapted to play throughout a range of at least three octaves, pads for normally closing said octave holes for playing in the lower register, an octave key, mechanism controlled jointly by said octave key and selected groups of the operating keys for singly selectively opening two of said octave holes, a control key, and means controlled jointly by said octave key, selected groups of the operating keys and the control key for closing said two of the octave holes and singly selectively opening the other two octave holes.

ALLEN LOOMIS. 

